300 Suns in-the-works brewery gets evacuated

The future site of 300 Brewing in Longmont was relatively untouched by the flood but the brewery was in the evacuation zone. (Photo courtesy of 300 Suns Brewing).

The ironically named 300 Suns Brewing scheduled to open in December now sits in flooded waters in Longmont and owners wonder if the opening will be delayed because of likely city resource demands.

“We will just have to wait and see,” said Dan Ditslear, co-owner of the brewery named after Colorado’s 300 days of sunshine. “We were hoping for December, but with all the resources that may be drained with inspectors and building resources that could be later.”

The future brewhouse and taproom in the 300 block of First Avenue was relatively untouched by the flood. The water didn’t get past the foundation and wouldn’t have damaged much of anything anyway, Ditslear said. The brewery isn’t up and running and the insides of the building are still in the construction phase, he said.

The seven-barrel system will be the first craft brewing operation to start in Longmont since the Pumphouse Brewery & Restaurant opened in 1996. Left Hand Brewing opened in 1994, and Oskar Blues Brewery moved its brewing operations to Longmont in 2008.

“We noticed that all the different communities are cropping up with craft breweries and no one had opened a new one in Longmont,” Ditslear said. “We will have five standard beers on tap and five seasonals … We’re saying it will be a mix of modern and traditional, leaning toward English and Belgium styles.”

A sinkhole formed behind the future brewery, as seen by this photo. (Courtesy 300 Suns Brewing).

The brewery will do a “Collabeeration” with homebrewers, having customers choose the best brew from homebrewers’ recipe and brew it on the big system, he said.

This weekend, it will be part of Left Hand Brewing’s Oktoberfest, which will has been turned into a relief benefit for flood victims. The brewery doesn’t have the proper licenses to pour at the festival, but it will be representing itself to get the word out. In the meantime, Ditslear and head brewer Mark Lusher are trying to think up a flood-related beer.

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